Ashleigh Buhai opened with a four-under-par 67 on Friday in the first round of the LPGA Tour’s Shoprite LPGA Classic presented by Acer at the Seaview Bay Course in Galloway, New Jersey.
Buhai made eight birdies after starting her round on the 10th, but she had bogeys on 16 and one, and a double-bogey six on the fourth after the turn. At four-under, she was in a 22-way share of 17th on a tightly packed leaderboard.
That big group was six strokes off the lead which was held by Arpichaya Yubol of Thailand, who signed for a bogey-free 10-under-par 61. She was two strokes clear of Jenny Shin of Korea, and another Korean, Narin An, was in third on seven-under. There were seven players on six-under in a share of fourth, and six players on five-under in a share of 11th.
Paula Reto had a solid start with her two-under-par 69 putting her in a share of 51st in the 54-hole tournament.
Just days after her career-best finish on tour at the US Women’s Open, Yubol carried her major momentum with her new career-best 18-hole score, and it tied the tournament 18-hole scoring record set by Sei Young Kim and Sakura Yokomine in 2018.
